Michelle Fowler
Michelle Fowler (previously Holloway and Andrews) was a legacy character on the long-running UK soap, EastEnders. She was originally played by actress Susan Tully, until the character was written out in 1994, when she moved to America. After an absence of almost 20 years, the character returned in 2016, this time played by Jenna Russell, but after a severe lack of storyline, she left again in 2018. She's had a rough life A woman who has had more than her share of hard knocks in her life, Michelle Fowler Holloway Andrews has been through more trials and travails than anyone in the East End borough of London called Walford. We first meet Michelle in 1985 as the only daughter (and at that point, the youngest child) of Arthur Fowler (Bill Treacher), an often unemployed man who spent most of his time digging in the community's allotments and Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard), who worked full-time at the Walford Launderette. She lived at 45 Albert Square with her parents, her older brother, Mark (David Scardino; Todd Carty); and her grandmother, Lou Beale. In fact, Michelle and her siblings were raised in the same house their mother was raised in and had once belonged to her grandmother's mother. Living nearby was her uncle (and Pauline's twin brother), Pete Beale (Peter Dean), who ran the open-air market's fruit and vegetable stall, and his second wife, Kathy (Gillian Taylforth). She was close to her cousin, Ian and her long-time best friend was Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), the adopted daughter of Den Watts (Leslie Grantham) and Angie Watts (Anita Dobson), the reigning landlords of the Queen Victoria pub. Her travails would begin when she discovered that she was pregnant. Her mother was already dealing with her own pregnancy (she would give birth to Michelle's youngest brother, Martin). Most of her family wanted her to abort the baby, but she showed that she would be responsible by keeping the baby and continuing with her education. Months later, she would give birth herself to a baby girl named Victoria Louise, called Vicki, but the identity of the father was still unknown. A barman at the Queen Vic, Lofty Holloway, fell in love with Michelle and wanting to be there for her and Vicki, the two would marry at a registry office. The attempt to have a formal wedding would cause a petrified Michelle to jilt Lofty at the altar, and would send her father to jail for embezzlement. Which explained why Lofty and Michelle married at a registry office. However, it was later revealed that the father of Vicki was Den! She had a sad and very unfortunate propensity for falling in love with married men and was a serial adulterer, something her older brother, Mark had told her angrily. Den had offered her some paternal support during a tough time for her that summer, but it became more than that when Den and Michelle made love on the floor of the Vic. When her family found out that Den was the father, public opinion ran very high against him, especially at Chez Fowler. A livid Pauline slapped him in the face; Arthur was furious (however impotently) with him, and even Queen Bee Lou was not too pleased with him. It was then that Michelle's formidable gran leveled a serious threat against the lecherous publican in the Vic. This showed that even in her waning years, Lou Beale was STILL a force to be reckoned with in the Albert Square area. Her leave for America After more travails with her bad choices in men, and the collapse of her marriage to Lofty (after she aborted her baby by Lofty which provoked a row between the two), she helped her best mate, Sharon, in dealing with her despicable husband, Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp), whom she absolutely loathed. An innocent interview that Michelle had with Sharon as a result of a news story, would lead up to a major storyline called "Sharongate", pitting Grant, Sharon and his brother, Phil (Steve McFadden) in a very heated feud. This caused Michelle's aunt, Kathy, to slap Sharon (not to mention calling her a slut in front of a packed Vic); cause Grant to totally berate and even abuse Sharon mercilessly; and Grant and Phil having a brutal fight in the Arches, which left Phil hospitalized and their brotherly relationship destroyed. It was absolutely clear that Grant and Michelle despised one another (they had always hated one another, but it was clinched when one of Grant's army friends, a psycho called Dougie Briggs, shot her during a siege at the Vic), and that hatred came to a heated boil in the Vic, one night. After some vicious screaming at one another, the two shared drinks as well as a kiss and then (naturally) had sex on the floor of the Vic. Grant impregnated Michelle (she would give birth to his son. She would name him Mark, after her older brother). However, she would soon realize that Walford wasn't the place for her. She would move to America and get a job there, and raise Vicki. She received a research job in Birmingham, Alabama, but would later move to Pensacola, Florida. During her time in America, she would meet and marry a man named Tim Andrews, and he would take to Vicki. To all intents, Tim was Vicki's father. He was also there when she gave birth to Mark, Jr, and he would be considered the young man's father. We wouldn't hear hide or hair of her for almost 20 years, except for when a now teenaged Vicki (played by Scarlett Alice Johnson) would come to town and raise her own share of Cain. She would later find out that her "Aunt Sharon" was really her adopted half-sister. She would also attend the funeral of her uncle, Mark. Vicki would reveal to her grandmother, Pauline, that Mark had made a visit to her and Michelle and said his goodbyes to his sister in Florida. Michelle returns In 2016, Michelle returned to Walford (now played by Jenna Russell). She surprised her family and friends by making an unexpected return at Christmas (when else?!). She would begin her sojourn in Walford by staying at her now grown youngest brother, Martin's home. Martin was now married to Stacey Slater and he was raising not just his own teenaged daughter, Bex (her mother was Martin's first wife, Sonia Jackson), but also his two adopted youngest children (at that point), Lily and Arthur. Lily was Stacey's oldest daughter by Ryan Malloy and Arthur (named after Martin and Michelle's late father) was Stacey's son by Kush Kazemi, Martin's best mate. Martin would later officially adopt both of them. Things took a very nasty turn when a young man named Preston Cooper came to London from America. He fell for Bex, which already infuriated Martin, as he was rather protective of his oldest daughter; but it was clear that he was in love...with Michelle! For, it was revealed that Preston had seduced Michelle when she was tutoring him in America (she had been his tutor). His seduction led to the destruction of her marriage to Tim (they would eventually divorce), the loss of her job as a teacher, and the alienation of her son, Mark, Jr (now played by Ned Porteus) who was only one year older than Preston. It was while Mark was in Walford, helping his family with some personal issues, that he would meet his birth father, Grant! Mark was angry with his mother for this and especially the Preston issue. When it was revealed by Louise Mitchell (Tilly Keeper), Bex's cousin and best mate, and also telling her that her stepbrother, Dennis Rickman Jr (Sharon Mitchell was his mother), had seen them together, everything started to fall apart for her. Upon hearing what she had done revealed by Louise, Martin denounced Michelle, punched Preston in the face and did what he could to comfort Bex, who had been devastated by both of them. Michelle was so grieved by what had happened to her niece, whom she hurt, that she got drunk and mixed sleeping pills and proceeded to crash Phil's car into the Chip shop. This landed her in hospital with a ruptured spleen. After her hospitalization, she finally realized what she had done to her family. Although it broke her heart, her family meant more to her than a cheap fling with a school boy. Thanks to some fine work by Sharon, Preston was given his marching orders back to America (where he was told by a furious Bex to burn his passport upon returning). Starting afresh, she would find a job as a sales associate (her record with Preston precluded her from ever being a teacher again) and would commute between Walford and the City. She would meet a man named Tom Bailey on the Tube and he would fall in love with her, but it was clearly one-sided. Tom would eventually become very possessive and would scare off guys who would date Michelle. During one dinner, Michelle would be at his mercy once again as he would be attacking her, until Sharon, aided and abetted by Denise Fox and Karen Taylor, would save her from his advances. Discovering that he really wasn't who he said he was (she had done her research on him), she threw him out of her house. She would also save Dennis from Karen's troublemaking son, Keegan Baker, when he tried to make him smoke a cigarette, and she threw him out of her house. She then mended things with Denny and hugged him. She would reconcile with everyone in her life during an event at the Vic where Sharon toasted her late mother, Angie. The two were well on their way to becoming close again. Michelle moved in with Sharon and her husband, Phil. During the incident where a double-decker bus crashed into the tube viaduct, she was instrumental in helping as well. When Martin was injured, she was there to help him. She was also there to support him when he and Stacey had a furious row after she revealed her affair with her former father-in-law, Max Branning. However, after a vicious row with Melanie Owen (Tamzin Outhwaite) who had accused Michelle (quite wrongly, as it turned out) of kissing her son, Hunter (who had lied to his mother about the situation; he and Louise had been having sex and Michelle caught them). Michelle then realized that there would be those in Walford who would never see her as anything but a woman who had been in a relationship with a seventeen year old schoolboy (although it was HE who had pursued Michelle and not the other way around). She would also talk to Martin, whom she was reconciled with somewhat, and he advised his sister that if she stayed in Walford, she would become their mother, and that wouldn't be good for her. She would, despite Sharon's pleas, leave Walford again to make an extended trip to Australia to see Vicki and her partner, Spencer Moon, who lived in Sydney. She would also do some other traveling to get her head clear, and try to reconcile with Tim and Mark. Sadly, she and Tim DID divorce, but she and Mark would try to repair their relationship. Then she would perhaps return to Walford, when she was ready. When Doctor Harold Legg (Leonard Fenton) passed away, Lofty and Mary Smith (Linda Davidson) made a return, and he presented Martin with a 20,000 quid check that he had for Vicki. Martin would mail it to Vicki, and Michelle would make sure she received it. Category:EastEnders characters